This invention relates to an impact wrench for hexagonal nuts and, more particularly, a unitary plate which is adapted to be struck by a hammer to loosen or tighten such nuts.
The idea of providing an impact wrench having a socket for the receipt of the nut so as to facilitate tightening or loosening is of real vintage--see Mandl U.S. Pat. No. 1,941,565 and the discussion therein. Such wrenches have not found favor with the trade because of the complexity of their manufacture and use and the fact that they have been unable to deliver maximum force to the "point of attack" in a simple, understandable manner.
The inventive impact wrench differs in overcoming these drawbacks and includes a metal plate member centrally apertured for a specific size hexagonal nut and with the periphery equipped with six equally spaced V-shaped notches. Each notch has one of the V-shaped defining surfaces aligned with a side of the nut to provide a hammer impact surface and with the impact surfaces being successively coplanar with the sides of the nut as one proceeds around the nut and from notch to notch. The other surface defining the V-shape is disposed parallel to an adjacent side of the nut, i.e., a side adjacent to the side with which the impact surface is coplanar. This results in a uniform section for the optimum transmission of loosening or tightening forces.
Other objects and advantages of the invention may be seen as this specification proceeds.